What Is Matched Betting? Your Complete Guide To The Popular Bet

You’ve probably heard matched betting being thrown around by more established punters but have never quite known what it means.

Sports betting can often catch you out with its jargon, after all the there are so many markets out there. So, if you’re wanting to know about matched betting read our complete guide. You’ll be glad you did!

What is Matched Betting?

Matched betting is a popular bet within sports and is one of the lowest risk bets you can play. It’s a tactic that can seem complicated from the outset, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it can prove to be a successful way of betting.

It works by taking advantage of a bookmaker’s bonuses and free bets, and essentially means your covering all bases with your bet.

By placing multiple bets, you’ll activate various offers and reduce the risk within your bet. So take a free bet for example. William Hill may be giving away a boxing free bet on any stake of £10 on a bout. Let’s say that was Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury.

To successfully used matched betting, you would stake £10 on Anthony Joshua to win with William Hill, trigger the free bet and then bet £10 on Tyson Fury with another betting company.

This would then mean you’d get your original £10 stake back along with your £10 free bet which in this case would have been from William Hill. To make profit, you would then repeat this process, using the free bet as a “lay bet”.

What is Back Betting and Lay Betting?

The process of matched betting uses two types of bet, a back bet and a lay bet.

The back bet is you backing your favourite to win. For example, that could be placing a bet on Anthony Joshua because you think he will win the fight. The lay bet would be the opposite bet, so in this case a bet on Tyson Fury.

How Do You Make Profit From Matched Betting?

The profit from matched betting comes after the initial first bet in the process. Once you have your first stake returned and have a free bet to play with, you would then use your free bet as a lay bet and find another bookmaker with a free bet offer.

Almost every bookmaker will have some form of welcome bonus or free bet available so you can repeat this process a good number of times, continually using the free bet your receive as a lay bet and picking up the profits of whichever is the winning outcome.

Is Matched Betting Legal?

Matched betting is completely legal and is really simple to get involved in. Anyone who can open an online betting account can take part in matched betting, although some bookmakers will try and prevent it through various methods.

You’ll find plenty of top tips online to make sure your accounts stay open though and it’s rare that this would happen. After all, these betting companies are losing out from this risk free way of winning.

How To Win With Matched Betting

Despite matched betting being risk free, people can mess it up. This is usually down to human error however. It’s important you keep it simple with match betting and most certainly keep track of your money. Your cash will be split across multiple accounts and if you want to really maximise profit, you’d only really play with your free bets and cash out anything that’s withdrawable.

Relevant news